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Adam Groves has posted a review on the Fright Site of A FEAST OF FRIGHTS FROM THE HORROR ZINE, which features my short story, “Clawed Sod”:

A FEAST OF FRIGHTS, now available at Amazon.

A FEAST OF FRIGHTS FROM THE HORROR ZINE (The Horror Zine Books) was the fourth anthology culled from the JEANI RECTOR edited Horror Zine website. Each of these anthologies has been bigger and better than the last, which means this FEAST is the most substantial of them all (at least until the next one). As in the previous books, it’s a terrifically eclectic gathering of dark fiction that mixes big names with up-and-coming ones.

Included are reprintings of previously published tales, among them Joe R. Lansdale’s unforgettable “Incident On and Off A Mountain Road,” about a survival trained woman using her skills to take on a homicidal freak, and Jeani Rector’s own “The Golem,” which powerfully fleshes out of the legendary folk tale.

Further standouts include “Germ Warfare” by Eric J. Guignard, about an ultra-paranoid man’s desperate attempt to rid himself of toxins; “Mouthpiece” by Mike Goddard, concerning a man who develops a second mouth; and “Husks and Formless Ruins” by Tom Piccirilli, which explores lust, disillusionment and the dark extremes of religious mania.

I also appreciated the nonfiction section, which includes a piece by true crime impresario John Gilmore about his lifelong obsession with the Black Dahlia murder. We also get Joe Lansdale telling how it is he became a writer, TV legend Earl Hamner reminiscing about writing for the original TWILIGHT ZONE, and Graham Masterton’s extremely poignant remembrance of his recently deceased wife.

Click here to read the review, and click here to buy the book. If you haven’t bought (and read) it, here’s what awaits:

• “Scratchings” by Matt Leyshon
• “Ghost Pit” by Simon Clark
• “The Soldier” by Shaun Meeks
• “What the Dark Does” by Graham Masterton
• “Proper Payments” by Philip Roberts
• “Incident on and off a Mountain Road” by Joe R. Lansdale
• “Cigarettes and Cicadas” by David M. Buhajla
• “Germ Warfare” by Eric J. Guignard
• “Mouthpiece” by Mike Goddard
• “Filmland” by Stewart Horn
• “Clawed Sod” by Christian A. Larsen
• “Skelf” by John Forth
• “Homecoming” by Scott Nicholson
• “Eve of All Hallows” by Brian G. Murray
• “The Lost Sheep” by Jason Reynolds
• “Skeletons in the Closet” by Cheryl Kaye Tardif
• “Bleeder” by Paul Edwards
• “The Night Visitor” by Joe McKinney
• “Always Say Treat” by Christopher Nadeau
• “The Audit” by Susie Moloney
• “Midnight Passage” by M. C. Shelby
• “The Favorites” by Chris Castle
• “Impressive Instants” by David A. Hernandez
• “Husks and Formless Ruins” by Tom Piccirilli
• “Masks” by Taylor Grant
• “Corn” by K. A. Opperman
• “Scream Queen” by Ed Gorman
• “Reaching Out” by Christian Riley
• “Me and My Shadow” by Sandra Crook
• “Little Girl Lost” by Trevor Denyer
• “The Story of my First Kiss” by Jeff Strand
• “The Dead Wall” by Michael Wolf
• “Spicy Thai Noodle” by Alva J. Roberts
• “The Tide Clock” by James Strauss
• “The Golem” by Jeani Rector
• “A Ghost in the House” by Jeani Rector
• “The Bond” by Dean H. Wild

A FEAST OF FRIGHTS (The Horror Zine Books) is a product of THE HORROR ZINE, a monthly e-zine that publishes new issues the first of every month.

In his 2013 year-in-review published earlier this month at The Fright Site, Adam Groves listed LOSING TOUCH as one of the highlights of the previous year:

Kindle and paperback now available at Amazon.

Now for a fun one: LOSING TOUCH by CHRISTIAN A. LARSEN (Post Mortem Press). It’s about Morgan, a man who finds himself “gifted” with a superpower of sorts: he can move his flesh through solid objects. The resulting series of misadventures are presented in suitably gritty fashion, showing the effects of this unique ability on (for instance) Morgan’s bowel movements. 

Ultimately, however, Morgan’s abilities serve to shine an unflattering light on the bleakness and inadequacy of his life, which is presented in a startlingly realistic fashion that belays–or perhaps enhances–the outré premise. The result is a weird and wonderful account with definite real-world resonance.

Other books on Groves’ “really good stuff” list includes THE RAPIST by Les Edgerton, NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, and THE STRANGE TALE OF PANORAMA ISLAND by Suehiro Maruo. Click here for the full write up.

And hey, if you’ve read LOSING TOUCH and haven’t written a review somewhere where other people can read it … then I guess that begs the question: “why not?”

Barnes & Noble reader Art Powell has written a five-star review of ZIPPERED FLESH 2, which features my short story, “The Little Things”:

A great collection of some truly great writers. From start to finish, this book was a joy to read, despite the wincing, the stomach churning and the pure horror in some of them. There are some twisted stories here, some realistic ones and some down right strange ones. I would list my favorites, but that would just be the table of contents. There isn’t a single miss here. Highly recommended!

ZIPPERED FLESH 2, now on sale at Barnes & Noble.

Edited by Weldon Burge, ZIPPERED FLESH 2 features the following contributions:

• “The Modern Adonis” by Bryan Hall
• “Taut” by Shaun Meeks
• “The Hunger Artist” by Lisa Mannetti
• “Skin Deep” by Carson Buckingham
• “The Sun-Snake” by Christine Morgan
• “Knowledge” by Kate Monroe
• “Prosthetics” by Daniel I. Russell
• “After Darque” by M.L. Roos
• “The Affair of the Jade Dragon” by Rick Hudson
• “The Future of Flesh” by J.M. Reinbold
• “We’re All Mad Here” by E.A. Black
• “Seeds” by L.L. Soares
• “Perfection” by Doug Blakeslee
• “Underneath” by Kealan Patrick Burke
• “The Perfect Size” by A.P. Sessler
• “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” by David Benton & W.D. Gagliani
• “BabyDaddy” by Jonathan Templar
• “The Little Things” by Christian A. Larsen
• “Clockwork” by Shaun Jeffrey
• “Luscious” by Jezzy Wolfe
• “Rapture” by Charles Colyott
• “Primal Tongue” by Michael Bailey

And don’t forget that this Saturday, no less than three ZIPPERED FLESH 2 contributors will be participating in the Winter Writer’s Day at Barnes & Noble in Racine. W.D. Gagliani, David Benton, and I will answer questions as part of the author panel between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., and we’ll be talking to readers and signing our books during the open house from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Christian A. Larsen is the author of LOSING TOUCH, featuring a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Piers Anthony, now available in paperback and ebook formats from Post Mortem Press.

“The Tin House” by Simon Clark, to feature in TBHOTY, VOL. IV.

THE BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR, VOLUME SIX, edited by Ellen Datlow, will feature Simon Clark’s “The Tin House” from SHADOW MASTERS: AN ANTHOLOGY FROM THE HORROR ZINE, which also features my short story, “The People Eaters”.

Datlow’s anthology series collects some of the year’s best horror fiction, including works by Laird Barron, Stephen Graham Jones, Michael Marshall Smith, Joe R. Lansdale, and Nicholas Royle. The books also feature reportage of notable achievements in horror literature, including awards, notable novels, anthologies, collections, periodicals, poetry, and non-fiction from the previous year.

SHADOW MASTERS, edited by Jeani Rector, continues The Horror Zine’s series of annual horror anthologies, and features both established and emerging writers, like:

• “The Thing That Was Not There” by James Marlow
• “Red Velvet” by Shaun Meeks
• “The End of the Trail” by Bentley Little
• “Same Sex Vampire Wedding” by Garrett Rowlan
• “The Church” by Matthew Wilson
• “Holodomor Girl” by Yvonne Navarro
• “Squirrels” by Larry Green
• “The Hung Preacher” by Scott Nicholson
• “The Unknown” by Chris Castle
• “Don’t Feed the Dog” by Rick McQuiston
• “The Classmate” by Melanie Tem
• “Abandoned” by Bruce Memblatt
• “Wet Birds” by Elizabeth Massie
• “Fearful Symmetry” by Devon Carey
• “‘Come Down to the Store, Minerva!’” by Earl Hamner
• “The People Eaters” by Christian A. Larsen
• “101 Damnations” by Carl Barker
• “The Tin House” by Simon Clark
• “The Cellar” by Tim Jeffreys
• “Pig” by Michael Thomas-Knight
• “Dream House” by Cheryl Kaye Tardif
• “The Last Memory” by Dominick Nole
• “The Wood Witch” by Jonathan Chapman
• “The Housewarming” by Ronald Malfi
• “I am the Feeder” by Christopher Hivner
• “Red Ink” by Lisa Morton
• “Sassafrass” by John T. Biggs
• “Tommy Boy” by J.M. Cozzoli
• “Willard Junction” by Christopher Nadeau
• “Suka: The White Wolf” by Jeff Bennington
• “Seeing the Light” by William Rasmussen
• “Them Ol’ Negro Blues” by J.G. Faherty
• “Happy Cthulhu to You” by Lance Zarimba
• “The Gremlin” by David Landrum
• “Flame of Freedom” by Aaron J. French
• “Reanimated” by Jeani Rector
• “The Famous Film Star” by Jeani Rector
• “Foundlings” by Dean Wild

Click here to buy SHADOW MASTERS, or to leave a reader review.

Christian A. Larsen is the author of LOSING TOUCH, featuring a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Piers Anthony, now available in paperback and ebook formats from Post Mortem Press.

Sunni K. Brock has written a positive review of THE BEST OF THE HORROR SOCIETY 2013, featuring my contribution, “It Has Teeth”, calling it a “humorously gross story”, and that “no one will want to see anything moldy after this crazy tale”.

Now available via Amazon in paperback and Kindle.

THE BEST OF THE HORROR SOCIETY 2013 rounds up twenty-eight tales from contributing members, eight of which are reprints, but representative of the fine skills that the society has to draw upon. Founder Scott M. Goriscak explains the genesis of the organization in his Foreword as an effort to bring together artists of all walks to facilitate collaboration in the horror field. Editor Carson Buckingham sums up what horrifies her in the introduction: “After you have passed from dread to terror, horror is wreckage left for you to deal with emotionally and psychologically, and sometimes physically…”

Read the review here, and if you haven’t already read THE BEST OF THE HORROR SOCIETY 2013, here’s the complete table of contents:

• Foreword by Scott M. Goriscak
• Introduction by Carson Buckingham
• “Ceremony” by William F. Nolan
• “Tendrils Never Lie” by Kevin A. Ranson
• “The Mask” by Lisamarie Lamb
• “Lemminaid” by Carson Buckingham
• “The Central Coast” by Jason V. Brock
• “White Hell, Wisconsin” by Weldon Burge
• “Victimized” by Richard Thomas
• “Normal is Relative” by Dan Dillard
• “The Procedure” by Doug Lamoreux
• “The Little Church of the Safe Crossing” by Joe McKinney
• “Madeleine” by Julianne Snow
• “It Has Teeth” by Christian A. Larsen
• “Masquerade” by Dave Jeffery
• “Black Bird” by Rose Blackthorn
• “Adjoining Rooms” by Scott M. Goriscak
• “The Inspiration & Horror of George & Hugh” by Nicholas Grabowsky
• “The Clown” by Henry Snider
• “Moving Day” by Mark Onspaugh
• “Ellen” by Lee Pletzers
• “Daddy” by Aaron Warwick Dries
• “Soft Like Her” by Charles Colyott
• “Venus” by L.L. Soares
• “The Luminous Veil” by Ian Rogers
• “Beer and Worms” by T.E. Grau
• “Black Mary” by Mercedes M. Yardley
• “The Boy in the Elevator” by Robert S. Wilson
• “Weird” by Dean M. Drinkel
• “Hotties” by Mort Castle

Mark Matthews, author of ON THE LIPS OF CHILDREN, has written a four star review of LOSING TOUCH for The Bookie Monster, comparing Morgan Dunsmore to Walter White of BREAKING BAD:

Kindle and paperback now available at Amazon.

LOSING TOUCH is the story of [Morgan Dunsmore,] an everyday kind of married male trying to make ends meet. His biggest struggles are to be a father, stay faithful, provide for his family, and as the story begins, come to grips with the power to move through other objects.

But this new power isn’t in a superhero universe, it’s in the real one, and thus, for example, he can pass through walls but only when naked (for how could clothes get through the wall, right?)

If you ever been bothered by the fact that the Hulk only loses his shirt and not his pants when he turns green from rage and expands, this novel is for you.

While the husband has the power to phase through things, in a way, he has been castrated to a degree and is losing his power. There is wonderful metaphor going on here. At least that’s how I took it. The husband was no longer tangible and seems to be feeling a bit impotent despite everything. Eventually, he can’t please his wife anymore (his appendages pass through other objects) and he can’t provide for his family (things pop through things during interviews. It’s all very hard to explain). He finally does try to use his new power to provide for his family and make things right, but this is complicated. Sneak naked into a bank, then what? You can’t sneak the money back through. All sorts of scenarios play out, and you start to feel trapped in the main characters plight and isolation.

The isolation of the protagonist was displayed wonderfully. He doesn’t tell anybody about what is happening to him and is constantly afraid his wife will found out. He’s a shame-based creature who is only as sick as his secret. There are some interesting marital moments that anybody who has done the ‘split off to different rooms’ thing each night, not out of spite, but just general emotional distance, will relate to. I couldn’t help but seeing him as a Walter White Character to a degree, Walt was maybe more powerful, but both of them trying to flex some male muscle in their suburbia lives, neither able to ever fully conquer.

It is through many micro-moments that the book holds itself together. It is not a book that travels fastly or grand, but instead travels inward. Self-thoughts and inner discussions of the character with his doppelganger dominate. The writer shines in some of these moments…

Read the rest of Matthews’s review here. LOSING TOUCH, featuring a foreword by NY Times bestselling author Piers Anthony, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and Nook formats.